An amazing story!

August 26, 2014

So the branch is pretty awesome! Last week we found 2 investigators! One is an amazing story! So this girl has friends serving missions and she asked one of them what they teach and what do they do everyday so he told her to talk to the missionaries the next time she sees them which was the next day! So the missionaries she ran into were reading in the little white hand book for missionary rules and all that stuff and read how we should not travel the same roads regularly. The way their apartment is there is really only one way in and one way out to other areas that is convenient for them since they are on bikes but they decided to be more obedient to the white hand book and went another way thats way out of their way. Obviously this was a spiritual prompting since they were then able to run into the girl we are now teaching who had just talked with her friend serving a misison the day before. How awesome is that!? I mean if that's not sign enough that the Lord is definitely in charge of this work than idk what is! What are the chances of all of that happening? Zero in my book. So now we are teaching her and she is loving the lessons and coming to the activities and even brought a friend with her last night. My favorite part about the ysa branches is the fellowship that ysa give. Its truly amazing. So last week we were on exchanges with some other elders and they are on bikes (the same ones that talked to the girl we are now teaching) and i went to their area. Lets just say I am so not in biking shape first off hahahaha anyway we had a lesson with this one guy who first off is a very philosophical thinker and has a good knowledge of the bible. So we start taking about things like Joseph Smith and if hes really a prophet and prophecies from him and what not then we talk about the Book of Mormon and he said he didnt see the need for the Book of Mormon. Of course i could come up with a million reasons why we need to book of Mormon but he had his mind set already that there is no need so i jsut bore testimony of it. Plus I don't really like bible bashing haha I don't like making people doubt their faith ;) hahaha jk But anyway we went to a baptism of this family. The mom is Less Active and the kids and dad aren't baptized. but anyway just the kids got baptized and while they were changing they had a time for people to bear their testimonies. While someone was sharing theirs I started pondering that experience and realized that those kids getting baptized is why we need the book of Mormon. Without it that baptisms never would have happened and that family would not be experiencing the joy they now feel. The spirit was almost overwhelming in that room. I love baptisms!

Love Elder Espinoza

August, 19 2014 

So things in the branch are starting to really pick up! Its honestly a pretty awesome time to be apart of the split and now we can really start focusing on all of the less active young single adults who live in our stake only. At first I was a little sad it split but now I know its totally inspired of God and and super excited! The branch is also very excited and really wants to get out and met people and do some good missionary work! This branch used to be the highest baptizing unit in the stake but hasn't had a single one this year...yeah....thats about to change :) haha We have new branch missionaries who are super pumped to do missionary work. Also we got like 8 referrals from other missionaries in the zone last week! Only one seems promising so far but that's one more than none! So we are really hoping to see some good progress with this branch soon! It is sad to not be in the Bandelier ward anymore but the branch is fun too! And we still get to see pretty much everyone in the Bandelier ward anyways haha. So like I said in my email last week Brett Moe is the EQ's President so last week we had dinner with the Moe family and it was super fun to have dinner with a family from Pasco and to talk about all of the same people that we know!!!!! I only got a pic with the three older kids Kara, Brett and Travis. It was pretty fun though! Got to find out about a bunch of people who are either married now or are engaged. CRAZY! haha Well not much going on here other than that just trying to find more people to teach and trying to stay busy in our new area!!!! Hopefully we find those that are being prepared soon. I know they're out there! Love you all.

Love, Elder Espinoza

08/12/14

So last week just flew right on by with Pday on Monday then transfers on Tuesday then preparing our mission leadership council report on Wednesday and then having the MLC meeting on Thursday then preparing zone training that evening and then having zone training Friday and then preparing our stake missionary correlation meeting report for Sunday then actually having the meeting - BUSY week!! We didn't really get a chance to get work done in our area other than go to institute, but this week we have no meetings or reports to do so we can finally get some real work done in our new area!

Sadly on Sunday the YSA branch was split in half. It used to cover the ABQ West Stake and Rio Rancho Stake but now its split so we cover ABQ West and sisters cover Rio Rancho. We met a ton of really cool people that all will be going to Rio Rancho which was pretty sad but there are still some cool people in our ward!!! The elders quorum president in the branch and I had a seminary class together my sophomore at good ol' Pasco High. His name is Brett Moe so that is pretty cool to be able to see him again and get to work with him! The branch before wasn't very big at all but there were hundreds of names that should be there in both stakes that aren't so the leadership felt impressed to split it and it will allow us to really focus on the lost people in the branch which will hopefully lead to lots of missionary opportunities as well!! This branch hasn't had a baptism this year so Elder Taylor and I are excited about improving the work here!!! There continues to be exciting things that go on here in our zone!

Love Elder Espinoza

Getting transfered

August4, 2014

  So, we did end up getting swapped with the young single adult Elders. I don't remember if I said why we were going to but basically the mission needs another car somewhere else and our area is tiny but since we are zone leaders we need a car so we got moved to the Young Single Adult branch because they cover the whole stake and need a car as well. And the elders who take our spots in Bandelier ward will now be on bikes! So we are very sad to leave the ward :( The nice thing is some of the members in our ward have kids who are  in the YSA branch and can still feed us! Also a kid in the ward just got home from his mission so the joke is that the ward will just pass him around so they can still feed us! hahaha This ward is definitely one that I will come back and visit. I feel like I have made life long friends here! We are sad to go but we understand that this work is truly inspired so we both look forward to working with the young single adults in this stake. I got to be in a YSA branch in El Paso for a transfer and that was really fun! So we're anxious to see why the Lord felt we needed to be in that branch!

We are also getting a brand new Ford Fusion so I guess we can't complain too much ;) haha Well its another busy pday so I don't have very much time. We have a lot of stuff to do before transfers tomorrow! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Espinoza

7/29/14

So last week was a pretty good week of course!!! We have been getting tons of rain here so its been pretty awesome. Gotta love monsoon season!!!! Can't believe that this is already the last week of the transfer. There is a possibility that we could be swapping wards with the YSA elders. It would be fun but at the same time I would REALLY miss this ward! I've really grown to love this ward a lot so only getting to be here for 3 transfers and having to leave would kill me! But whatever the Lord needs me to do I will do!

We didn't get to meet with that family we helped pick plums with but we have a lesson with them tonight so we are pretty stoked about that!!!!! Hopefully it goes well. Its so awesome to meet with people that are prepared for the gospel and to help them progress towards receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We didn't have as many baptisms as we planned to for the month of July as a zone but next month is going to be such an awesome month, that's for sure! So sorry this is short but I don't have much time today but I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

July 22, 2014

So last week was a week full of miracles! We have this thing in our mission where we park our cars for a day to get us out talking to more people. So we parked our car last week praying and hoping for a miracle to happen in our area cause this area really needs it! So we were planning on meeting with the bishop that evening but he asked if we could earlier on that afternoon so we decided to walk to his house. Then he texted us telling us he would be a little late so we were just gonna go to his house anyways and drink some water cause it was super hot that day but then I said we should stop by this less actives house for a few minutes so we started walking towards that house and on the way there were these two ladies and three kids picking plums. As we got there the ladder started getting really wobbly so we ran up there and help it for her so she could come down then we started talking to them and they gave us plums and we asked if we could help so my companion climbed up on the ladder and started picking plums for them! Then they asked us what we do and we explained that were missionaries and we teach people about Christ. Then one lady asked if we do grievance counseling and we said sort of through scriptual study and strenghtening you faith in Christ. she then opened up about how her daughter just passed away and she is struggling so we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and asked if we could come back and talk with her about it and she said yes! So a few days pass by and we stopped by. At first no one answered and there was a ton of cars there so we knew they were home and were bummed out but right when we were walking away she asnwered the door! Her mom was there too and they were both excited to see us and had been expecting us! She had told her mom all about us and so she was happy to meet us! So we had about 15 minutes cause our ward mission leader had to leave but we shared a short scripture and invited them to church and they will both be there this Sunday and were going back to have a real lesson with them and they're both really excited about it! And we are even more excited I'm sure haha cause we have been waiting for a miracle to happen!!! Both of these women are so prepared for this gospel right now and its totally what they need to comfort them about their loss.

So miracles just keep happening here in this zone and it really is amazing. Last week we had our stake missionary correlation meeting and the stake president said in the 5 years he has been a stake president he hasn't seen this many baptismal dates. It truly is amazing to see the Lord hasten his work. But it happens when we are the ones willing to hasten the work. He will provide ways and opportunities for us when we do!

Love Elder Espinoza

07/15/14

So last week was a crazy busy week that went by way too fast! The second Sunday of every month we have our SMCM meeting (stake missionary correlation meeting) with the stake presidency, the high councilor over missionary work, our mission president and his 1st counselor. So we have a huge report we have to do and Elder Taylor is a new ZL so I had to teach him how to do the report on excel and all that fun stuff so we were in the library a lot. We also planned a ward mission conference for the stake with Brother Payne, the high councilor over missionary work, for last Sunday and that was such an amazing meeting. Hopefully it inspired the ward mission leaders and everyone in the ward that has to do with the ward mission! I know all the missionaries are super pumped for this transfer so hopefully they catch the same vision that we have for this stake! The Lord is seriously hastening his work here in this stake. The most baptisms we have had in this stake in the last two years for a month was 6 and that was two years ago and this month we should have over 8! Everyone is super pumped! So, I know the Lord is hastening his work here and is doing the same thing back home so hopefully you all jump on the Lords bandwagon, lol.

So last night we met this neighbor kid that lives by one of our favorite members house! He seriously reminds me of Joseph Smith. Lol! This kid is 15 years old and really is searching for truth. He has been studying a bunch of different religions online and already knows more than the average member that is his age, lol, and he can quote the bible better than just about anyone I have met on my mission. He has a ton of questions and wants to know why we believe things that we do. The crazy thing is he comes off as wanting to bible bash but he doesn't belong to any religion at all and just wants to learn, so its pretty neat that a kid this young really wants to learn. So we are excited to teach him. Its gonna be a little difficult to try and not bible bash with him because that gets you no where I've learned on my mission, lol. Although I just about did last night when he was talking to us but then I remembered he is just a young kid that wants to learn. He knows the bible better than me I'm sure and can quote it a lot better than me but he definitely does not understand what it means which is most important. Makes me grateful for the knowledge and understanding I have grown to have on my mission! Hopefully this turns out to be something good and he get baptized but we shall see!

Well I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Elder Espinoza

 Elder Espinoza and Elder Taylor